FDA Gets Tough with Food Labels

The US Foods and Drubs Administration (FDA) is launching an offensive on nutritional food labelling, saying unstandardised logos could be misleading to consumers.

In a letter to companies, the FDA said it will be paying close attention to inaccurate food labelling by increasing the policing of standards, determining which labels go against US law.

The body will then look into regulating nutritional labelling with defined criteria.

The FDA says a growing number of products are placing nutritional claims on packaging, even when health benefits have not been proven.

The FDA held up the Kraft Foods and General Mills Smart Choices programme as an example. Launched to help reduce rates of obesity, some companies, it said, were using Smart Choices labelling despite containing 50% sugar.

It also said some companies advertised products with health benefits such as vegetable count without alerting consumers to its negative aspects, such as fat content.